Real estate enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City now owe huge tax arrears with many of them incurring bills of over VND1 trillion (US$42 million) each, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department.
The department’s newly-released data showed that tax arrears in Ho Chi Minh City reached VND53 trillion ($2.2 billion) as of June this year, up 16.6 percent over the end of last year.
Real estate firms accounted for a large part in the outstanding tax liabilities.
In particular, the 21st Century International Development Co. Ltd. owed a staggering VND6.1 trillion ($256 million), while Thuan Viet Trading and Construction Co., Ltd. has yet to pay taxes valued at nearly VND2.7 trillion ($113.4 million).
The tax arrears of Golden Hill Investment Corporation and Song Tien Real Estate Corporation reached VND1.3 trillion ($54.6 million) and VND1 trillion ($42 million), respectively.
The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department issued nearly 45,500 decisions to coerce tax debtors to pay tax arrears and collected over VND12.7 trillion ($533.1 million) in the first half of this year, equal to 94 percent of the figure in the same period last year.
The taxman also froze tax debts worth nearly VND4.7 trillion ($197.3 million) for some 120,000 individuals in the six-month period.
During the period, the municipal People’s Committee made 329 decisions to clear debts amounting to VND499.9 billion ($21 million) for more than 17,200 taxpayers, while the tax agency wrote off tax arrears of VND78.8 billion ($3.3 million) for 12 individuals.
The Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department attributed the increasing tax arrears to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lasting from previous years and the economic downturn.
The department will enhance the encouragement and coercion of taxpayers to fulfill their obligations as well as publicize a list of enterprises failing to pay taxes on time in the mass media.
The tax authority has published such lists before, which included giant firms.
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!